


Dawn

by ObiOneCannoli



Series: SWTOR: Aetherius [1]
Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Coruscant, Droids, Empire, F/F, F/M, Galactic Republic, Hoth, Multi, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, POV Original Character, POV Third Person, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Republic, SWTOR, Sith, Sith Empire, Star Wars References, The old Republic - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 08:45:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12955581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObiOneCannoli/pseuds/ObiOneCannoli
Summary: Nar Shadaa is destroyed, an orphan girl travels the galaxy in search of a truth, and must choose between the Empire that destroyed her home or a foreign republic that tried to destroy her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello~ This is my first SWTOR work! This story features mostly original characters, and includes some ingame characters. It also takes place at no particular time in the story and doesn't take much cannon.

**Nar Shaddaa**

 

The neon lights of the promenade cloud her vision, and the blur of color softly accompanies the alcoholic odor, and the chatter of people, the slurs of their language unknown to her. The raspy tone in a particular voice reminds her of when she was younger and was caught stealing from a shipmaster. The shipmaster’s voice was very raspy. She’d always choose the same one, knowing the man would spare her a beating or selling her into the moon's slave trade, as if he had some pity for her, like a guardian. But that shipmaster eventually stopped being merciful, and she could never forget how tired she was after running miles from him. She looked around for something to consume, and when you’re hungry, it’s all you can focus on. The promenade was always fairly populated, a center of social interaction and trade hiding what “The Smuggler’s Moon” truly is. A planet built up by the Hutt, many species have come to integrate here. The glimmering solid gold statue of Karagga the Hutt never failed to catch an eye, as many foreigners come to honor him. But the only reason the girl happened to be looking in its direction, is that the market is behind the statue. She didn’t really care for the Hutt, as she would say, “They’ve done nothing for me, so why should I care?” She disregarded the statue as usual, and set a course for the market beyond.  

 

Beautiful Twi’lek women dance sparingly around the cantina, one sitting on the counter with maroon skin, flirting with the bartender, Yasin, flaunting her lekku. Yasin pays no mind, as usual. The girl giggles as she watches the Twi’lek woman slide off of the counter in shame. Feeling reassured, the girl approaches Yasin. “Jeneva doesn’t know what to cut it out,” Yasin sighs. “Have you seen Sybil? She must be running around here somewhere.” The girl grins. “No. Not at all.” She replies. Yasin pours a sparkling orange drink. It fizzes. Yasin shakes it in the girl's face like it’s bait. She gives in, and chugs the drink down her throat. The girl is young, 17 at least, and has been living on Nar Shaddaa all her life. She doesn’t know much about the outside world, and granted, she doesn’t want to. The sound of chatter slowly escalates, and Yasin leaves the counter, his blue lekku twitching. He’s staring at something, and the girl doesn’t really care. Screams interrupt her thoughts, she turns around swiftly, and faces the sky.

 

Black speeders embedded with the Imperial sigil flood the skies, and by the look of it, she thinks that they’re about to open fire. Unfortunately, she was right. A laser blast abruptly strikes the side of the cantina, blowing out an Aurebesh sign. Human instincts kick in, and she runs and ducks. Yasin runs too, but the other way, in search of Sybil, his younger sister. Having nowhere else to go, the girl follows him. The smoke and ash slowly but surely delay their speed, and sight is almost impossible. The girl falls, bumped by someone. For the half second she looked up from the ground, she saw a bright green line. A lightsaber. Jedi. She knows this can’t be good. “Jedi on Nar Shaddaa?” Yasin questions, his sentence so spread out due to his shortness of breath. A young child’s cries fill her ears, increasing her anxiety. After ages of travel, Yasin finally stops her. A small speeder is in front of her, like it was scheduled to be there. Yasin seems as anxious as she does, and proceeds to look around. He struggles to get something out of his front pocket. He hands her a small bag. Yasin pushes the girl towards the speeder, enough to get her to fall in. He hesitates for a moment. “Mezenti… Get… to… Alderaan” He coughs. The girl is confused. “C’mon Yasin, get in with me.” The girl kindly insists. “No…, I have to... find... her.” “Please Yasin, you’ll die here.” “So be it.” Yasin closes the speeder hood, and sends it running. He turns away to walk back into the ashes of the promenade.

 

The girl is in a desperate situation. She makes her way to Mezenti Spaceport, with sheer determination and anxiety. An imperial speeder closes up behind her. She hopes it’s targeting someone else, but she knows it isn’t. She sways to the left, hoping to avoid its gaze. Not a good choice. A colony of red lasers fire from the speeder, and she moves her speeder uncontrollably to try to avoid the beams. She circles around a sky tower, looping through its holes to lose the Imperial. It works, and she is relieved. Her destination is just ahead, and she speeds up. Her speeder safely lands on the dock, and she gets out of it to take in her atmosphere. Too long. The Imperial is back. A heavy beam fires onto her speeder, and blows the chunk of the dock off with it. The girl is frantic, but manages to catch a rod of metal still hanging from the dock. Unfortunately, her hands become slippery, and it’s hard to hold herself up. She swings her other arm up onto the rod, hoping to get a grip. The Imperial isn’t finished. One last beam strikes the remainder of the dock, and pieces of the platform tumble onto the depths of the city, along with Serene. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first appearance of Lord Dentro, born as Apollo, Ruler of the Sith Empire.

**Dromund Kaas**

Apollo/Lord Dentro

 

Rain. 312 days a year, 24 hours a day. A day filled with the sound of water hitting the glass and steel. Apollo overlooks Kaas city with pride. He is the ruler. The lord of the empire. Or that’s what he tells himself, to keep him sane. He’s never gotten used to the rain, despite its vexing consistency. The glass reflects his stern appearance, jet black hair that hugged his shoulders, and a firm jawline. He is a  young ruler, 24 about, chosen in disparity as an apprentice. Darth Havis said to have faith in him, but Apollo knew it was only faked until Havis found another, better, apprentice. To Apollo’s control it never happened. Apollo struck the old Sith down with his bare hands, with no mercy. He could never go back to the shady streets of coruscant, protected by some “Republic” that he never really believed in. It was hope for some people, of course, but Apollo thought the Senate sat on their asses in a tall, fancy building he’d never see, deciding what they wouldn’t do to help the poor on their own planet. The thought of the Senate, the capitol, made him sick to his stomach. The young lord had become so submerged in his thoughts that he didn’t notice another figure appeared in the glass. A silver figure. ARIES. ARIES was an advanced sentient droid from Iokath that served Havis, but obviously came to serve Dentro. Apollo turned to face the droid, with his arms placed on the front of his cloak. “A visitor, Lord Dentro,” ARIES states. Apollo sighs, waiting for more information. “The Twi’lek, sir. From Nar Shaddaa.”

 

Apollo is a reserved and quiet person and hasn’t gotten used to all of the attention from being the ruler. The Imperial HQ was more heavily guarded than usual. As ARIES escorts Apollo to his visitors, he looks out of the transparent walls, over the city surrounded by jungle. He notices an abundance of ships and speeders flying into the city’s main spaceport. He wonders why, but quickly dismisses his thoughts as he enters a meeting room. Apollo sits on a long, black couch, awaiting his visitor. He taps his feet, becoming impatient quickly.  _ Why aren’t they here already? _ He thinks to himself. Two Lethan Twi’lek women accompany him on the couch, surrounding him and stroking his body. He silently rejects their presence, as he has never had much interest for the company of Twi’lek women he didn’t know, unlike others. Finally another Twi’lek woman comes into the room taking a seat on the couch in front of him. Two men in hoods quickly accompany her as well. “If you’ve been keeping up with chatter, as I suppose you have, the Imperial fleet you so kindly provided for me raided Nar Shaddaa not long ago,” The Twi’lek woman finally said. Apollo said quietly, waiting for a report. “Many of the Jedi were eradicated,” She picks up a sparkling drink from a table in front of her. “Republic representatives were not hard to convince to give up information. The Republic is planning a campaign on many of the smuggler cities, trying to convince the poor, unsuccessful criminals, and slavers with their slaves to join their cause. Credits were involved.” She sips her drink, and makes a gesture to one of the women sitting next to Apollo. One of the women pulls out a holographic, and sets it on the table for everyone to see. “The Republic was supplying billions of credits to an underground syndicate, with hundreds of slaves and prostitutes, along with food and supplies,” She says while pointing to statistics and reports on the holographic. “I freed the prostitutes, they were using them to convince others. The men are ours now, along with everything else. You should’ve seen all of the supply ships I’ve sent in.” She continues. Nothing. Apollo breaks the silence, “Very good. Did you get our bird?” The Twi’lek woman’s face drains. She sets her drink down on the table and bends over, exposing the top of her breast. “There was an issue.” Apollo sits up and looks more attentive. “What kind of issue?” “Don’t worry lord, we’ll find our bird soon. I know we will. We have people.” Apollo sighs deeply. He gestures her away. “Out of my sight.” The women are harshly picked up by Imperial guards, and Apollo gets off of the couch. “Please, my Lord, mercy!” One of the Twi’lek women scream. Apollo turns to face them. “This is mercy. Come to Dromund Kaas again and you and all of your whores will be executed.”

 

It’s some early hour and Apollo is training. Mastering his saber with every stroke he makes. He’s anxious, he knows. Apollo longs for the battlefield. Not something many could say but to him, it was exhilarating. Striking down his enemies, hearing their families scream and torturing their children. The Sith Empire is claimant to not being animals, but every living person knows that’s not completely true. The Republic is full of monsters, but that’s oblivious to most. His thoughts take over him and he misses his strike. He drops his saber in anger and grunts. As he takes in his anger, he hears slow clapping. He looks up. Vette. He was tired of seeing Twi’lek women today, but Vette was an exception. “It’s sad that anger is what powers the Sith,” She states. Apollo grins and looks down. “But it’s better than being in the bloody Republic.” “What do you want, Vette?” Apollo groans as he picks his saber off of the ground. “I want you to listen to my proposal.” Apollo sighs. “You’ve been locked up in here. It’s time you leave the place.” Vette insists. She reaches to grab Apollo’s hands and cups them in hers. “You need to reassure your position in the galaxy. The Sith is failing without their leader, Apollo.” Apollo winces. “Don’t call me that.” Vette makes a pouty face. “Oh, little Apollo, doesn’t want to be addressed by his name, gets angry in training, and never wants to enjoy his life.” Vette teases. “I chose this.” Apollo firmly states. “You did. Are you happy with your choice?” Vette asks. Apollo removes his hands from Vette’s. It’s never really a question he thought about. Apollo never really wanted to be the Imperial ruler, he just didn’t want to be rotting in the depths of some cantina, drunk off of his own piss. He can’t let anyone know that though. He can’t let anyone know that he has weaknesses. “Yes. I am. Goodbye, Vette.” Apollo turns away. Vette sighs. “Well, you should at least do something. Alderaan is falling. The two outposts near the Juran Mountains and one in the valley were taken by the Republic, and Hoth is on the verge of being heavily contested.” Apollo thinks to himself. He’s tired of the rain, and the swamps. A long silence occurs. “Meet me at the spaceport.” Vette looks confused. “We’re going to Alderaan.”


End file.
